


Like the Dead Sea

by Reek



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Ficlet, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Panic Attack, sort of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-09
Updated: 2012-10-09
Packaged: 2017-11-16 00:11:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/533315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reek/pseuds/Reek
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It had been two weeks since Matt had dreamt of drowning. He thought he had been getting better.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Like the Dead Sea

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for a drabble meme on tumblr and it...kind of got a little out of hand. My feelings about Matt kind of just bulldozed over everything and it became a lot more introspective than planned. Because it was written for a meme and I'm kind of embarrassed because I've never written anything like this before, it is unbetaed. I decided to post it anyway because there is a serious lack of stuff with Danny or Matt and even less of them together!
> 
> I guess this is sort of set in an AU maybe a couple years after season 2, where Matt and the kanima stuff still happened but Matt never died and him and Danny start some sort of relationship. This takes place maybe a few months after they start dating, maybe in Danny's freshman year of college or something.

Matt woke up with a sharp gasp, his chest aching and burning as he fought to breathe. He had thought he was getting better. It had been almost two weeks since he had last dreamt of deep waters, burning lungs, thrashing limbs and endless darkness. He wiped at his eyes and clutched his chest. He was trembling and gasping, unable to take a breath.

 “Matt?” The sleepy voice came from the boy lying next to him.

 He felt the bed shift and dip as Danny turned over but Matt couldn’t meet his boyfriend’s eyes. He was ashamed and afraid of what he would see there, disappointment, irritation...pity.

 “Fuck…” he gasped breathlessly. “Sorry....didn’t mean to wake you…go back to sleep.”

 But of course Danny, being the stupid, amazing boyfriend he was, ignored Matt and was sitting up, wrapping his strong arms around Matt and pulling him into his warm, bare chest before Matt could gasp another word.

 Matt shook his head feebly, tense in his boyfriend’s arms but he didn’t pull away. He was still shaking but his breaths were coming in shallow gasps now and the burning in his chest was gradually fading to a dull ache.

 Danny held him tightly against him, muttering soothing nothings that Matt could barely hear over the pounding of his heart in his ears.

 Eventually he began to relax in his boyfriend's arms, his breathing and heart rate slowly returning to normal but Danny still didn't let go.

 Matt felt guilty; he knew Danny had to get up in a few hours for an early morning class. He was just about to say as much, an apology barely leaving his lips before Danny cupped Matt's face gently, tilting it up so that Matt was forced to finally meet his eyes.

 Matt let out a shaky breath. What he saw when he looked at Danny wasn't irritation for being woken up in the middle of the night _again_. It wasn't disappointment that Matt just couldn't seem to get better and it wasn't pity either. It was concern and...something _more_ , much more, something Matt wasn't sure he was ready to dissect just yet.

 Matt wiped at his eyes again, feeling stupid and ashamed now that his heart wasn't trying to tear it's way out of his chest. He tried to laugh and shake it off but he's pretty sure it came out weak and bitter instead.

 Danny wasn't buying it anyway. He had this annoying and uncanny ability to tell when Matt wasn't "OK". Danny was good- way too good for Matt. But Matt was too selfish and too far in to let him go. Something he tried not to think about.

 He took a shaky breath and brought a hand up, placing it over Danny's, slightly larger one, which was still cupping his jaw, warm and unshakable.

 He wanted to say thank you but the words stuck in his throat, thick and heavy.

Suddenly, Matt got the familiar but overwhelming urge to push Danny away, to run. To give up and fall back into a dangerous routine. It was easier to be consumed by anger and his vengeful vendetta than to care about this stupid boy who somehow managed to worm his way into Matt's life. Slipping into it with a kind of effortless ease so that Matt hadn't even noticed until it was too late.

He fought back the urge to run, suppressed it, pushing it to the back of his mind where Matt feared it would always be.

But he remembered the hurt look on Danny's face the last time he shoved him forcefully away and tried to run, spitting hurtful words at the other boy like venom. He had wanted to hurt Danny then. He had wanted to show him who he really was. He wanted to make Danny hate him.  
  
But that had been then. His body's last attempt at putting his fight or flight instincts to use. That was before Danny had been able to sink his claws into Matt and not let go. At least without leaving permanent damage behind.   
  
Now, he didn't want to be the cause of that look on Danny's face. He didn't want to see his face fall, his smile disappearing like the sun behind stormy gray clouds.

He knew it was only a matter of time before he fucked things up again but it wouldn't be tonight.  
  
Danny's arms only tightened around his boyfriend as he laid back, sinking into the pillows, pulling Matt down with him.  
  
Matt curled into his boyfriend's side and the feeling that he was being pulled under, suffocating, _drowning_ , began to subside. The sound of Danny's steady heartbeat was like an anchor holding him there, keeping him from drifting away.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! 
> 
> I listened to Home by Phillip Phillips and Dead Sea by The Lumineers (also where the title comes from) while writing this.


End file.
